TUPD gets improved radios and skywatch towers

Abby Taylor Game day at Troy will now be equipped with new SkyWatch towers to ensure protection in parking lots and a connected radio system. Through the Military Surplus Program, the Troy University Police Department has received two SkyWatch towers, which provide better security for football games. “It’s basically a scissor lift that lifts up in the air about 40 feet high and has a security station up on top,” said University Police Chief John McCall. The tower comes equipped with lights, cameras, a weather station, a DVR security system and a PA system. According to a Security Camera System Pro article, “A DVR security system is a kind of surveillance camera system with digital security cameras that record motion video digitally.” “That device will be up in the air with an officer in it recording anything that happens out in the parking lot and monitoring what goes on,” McCall said. McCall said one tower will be placed in the RV parking lot and one in the Trojan Center East parking lot during football games to offer protection to those watching the game. “We’re going to use these two (SkyWatch towers) here during the football season, and then you’ll probably even see them at Walmart or at the Publix shopping center during the holiday season,” he said. The Project 25 (P25) radio system is also connecting the campus in Troy to campuses in Phenix City, Montgomery and Dothan with radios on the same system to ensure faster communication. McCall said patches are set up so the city of Troy, Pike County and PhysicalPlant can be plugged into the radio system. “We have an ACU-1000 which is a patching device, a switching device that is on our radio tower next to the chapel,” McCall said. According to lauttamus.com, “The ACU-1000 can simultaneously cross-band two or more different radio networks, connect a radio network to a telephone line … or even create a conference call between several different radio networks and a caller on the telephone line.” McCall said city police, paramedics and campus police can talk on one radio channel instead of using multiple channels. “In the past, we’ve had people with one or two or three different radios at the game and they would be our patching device, basically our ACU-1000,” McCall said. According to McCall, the first football game went smoothly with the new equipment.